My Adventure As A Homeless Person

Darnell Boyd

It was one of those hot, sunny afternoons in a wonderful city that I dare not name. The name of the city is not important, but what happened to me was. A church bus pulled up and asked us homeless folks if we were hungry, and we said “yes.” So they set up tables in the parking lot and started passing out food. On the menu was pork and beans and a hot dog. I don’t eat hot dogs because I’m a vegetarian, but I accepted it just to give it to a friend of mine. So, I strapped on my backpack and went looking for him, but I decided to eat the beans before they got cold. As soon as I sat down by the capitol, the police bulled up with their hands on their Glocks.

“What’s the problem officer?” I said.

“You are not supposed to be here,” he said.

So, I asked why.

“You just aren’t.”

“What am I doing wrong sitting in front of the capitol eating?”

“Let me see some I.D.”

So he ran my name, and it came back clean, but he told me to keep it moving and that if he drove back past that he was going to give me a trespassing ticket. I was targeted because of my backpack.